PERIODICAL ARCHAEOLOGY BRANCH Department of Aboriginal and Islanders Advancement CONTENTS: FIGHTING WEAPONS FIGHTING WEAPONS Infonnation derived from Walter E. Roth* Bulletin No. 13 Records of the Austra 1ian Museum Vo 1ume 7 No. 4 SPEARS PER!ODfCAl Spears were manufactured from many different materials. The amotmt of labour required to manufacture a spear was dependent upon the type of timber, whether it was a bamboo or a thin sapling or whether the implement had been cut from a tree as occasionally occurred in the Boulia and Rockhampton districts. There was also different methods in bending and straightening the spear, apart from fitting the heads. In the north-west a variety of spears were made, some from reeds and many were multiple prong fish spears such as those of the Wellesley Islands. Others had stone flakes hafted onto the ends or were in two sections, jointed and botmd in the centre. The prongs of the fish spears were spliced and fixed with twine and in some instances the barbs of the fish spears had been carved out of a piece of wood with the 'teeth' one behind each other. A typical example would be approximately 11 feet in length with the butt cupped to take the spearthrower peg at the end. The spear was in two sections with the end of the butt being scarfed out to fit into the corresponding scarf on the head of the spear. This was lashed with twine. (See Fig. 1). *Magistrate of the Pomeroon District, British Guiana, Lake Chief Protector of Aborigines, Queensland. 2 The head of the shaft was grooved on three (3) faces in order to receive the ends of the prongs. Once the prongs were inserted it was carefully bound with twine leaving a barbed length of approximately 19 - 20 inches. The bltmt barbs were cut out of solid wood and all faced inwards. Around the Pennefather River spears were manufactured with sting-ray tail barbs or kangaroo bone slivers. All the spears were thrown with a spear­ thrower and the barb was fitted into a longtitudinal groove in the spear tip. It was then bound around with twine to make it stable and covered with a heated gum substance which when cold bec:c:.me very hard. The colouring of the spears tended to be uniform, starting at the butt end in white. then red and black. Roth comments that the black colouring (1o1hich would have been charcoal) was "fixed11 with a special medium which was either the gum of a • melaleuca' or hu:mai blood. 3 On the Pennefather River there were short light spears which were generally used as playing tools and the heavier spears armed with a sting-ray barb which were used for fighting. Heavier and longer spears, used for hunting the kangaroo and fishing, were made from a special timber called "ombo" which was bartered from the En:Dley River. The Princess Charlotte Bay, Cape Bedford, Bloomfield and the Little Palmer River spears were much the same, with the shaft morticed into the butt section and barbs forming the tip of the completed spear. Some had sting­ ray barbs either singly or in groups. Sting-ray barbs were traded from the Mitchell River on the Gulf and the Mus·grave River to the Middle Palmer River. The spears varied as the barbs were either pointing forwards or backwards dependent upon their usage. Some spears were quartz-tipped, with the quartz flakes fixed with gum onto the opposite sides of the spear tip. The small white quartz flakes adhered at their bases along the tip of the spear and were not at right angles to the spear itself~ but were angled forwards. They decreased in size towards the spear tip. (See Fig. 8). Multiple pronged fish were also manufactured with a wooden barb on each prong. These fish spears were made of a light wood, usually grass tree or black palm. The latter material was bartered into that area from the Mcivor River. The barbs were either of hardwood or bone, and these spears were generally used for fighting. Occasionally the grass tree sterns were replaced by reeds, with the butt end of black palm. In the Lower Tully River there was a spear made from two pieces with the butt end being of grass tree and the head of a harder timber. Sting-ray barbs were often attached. There was also a hand spear formed from a single piece of hardwood and another from the black palm which was also thrown without a woomera and was largely used for spearing eels and fish. A hand spear of 7 to 8 feet in length, very heavy and cl~y, was also manufactured. In the Rockhampton area these spears were largely of a single piece of wood about 7 to 8 feet in length with a butt ending in a sharp abrupt point. It was generally cut out in its entirety from a wattle core or brigalow. The Brisbane region had three (3) kinds of _spears which were all simply made and thrown by hand. They were all of one piece made from a yotmg straight grained tree which was split and the wood straightened- and planed with a piece of broken shell. (Figs. 2 - 7 show the various types of spear heads.) SPEAR THROWERS According to Roth these were not present in the eastern coastal districts extending from Townsville to Rockhampton and were tmknown in Brisbane. They were however, present in the area around what is now Charters Towers. 4 ,, •II I I ,,"c •I < 1 1 1 ~/: !f I I I II (I Fig. Fig. fig. fig. Fig. Fig. 2 3 4 5 6' 7 Fig. 2 Method of binding on barb. Fig. 3 Multiple stingray barbed spears - Bloomfield. Fig. 4 Single stingray spear - North East. Fig. 5 Multiple pronged fish spear - North East. Fig. 6 Flattened and expand spear head - Central Coast. Fig, 7 Same as (6) wiih 5 barbs on one side - Central Coast. 5 At Cape Bedford, Bloomfield River and Butchers Hill. the ironwood spear­ thrower had a comparatively long blade and an even width throughout and a short peg with a slight nick. The handle was often haftless i.e. without the pieces of shell being fixed with bees wax. (Fig. 11). Between Bloomfield River and Cape Grafton, Roth also saw the bent or Moon shaped spearthrower in addition to the straight type. This bent spear­ thrower was employed for spearing fish or birds at close quarters. It was comparatively short and made of light timber and was haftless. It was often decorated with red and white pigment. (See Fig. 14). 6 At Princess Charlotte Bay the spearthrower was generally made of ironwood although the blade was longer than those at Cape Bedford. It was wide at the centre and narrow at the handle with a shell haft fixed at any particular angle. To the north west of this area the spearthrower was relatively short and almost 'leafshaped' with a long peg. A short spear was used with this type of spearthrower. On the Wellesley Islands, Roth came across a most unusual spearthrower which was a straight stick almost 2~ feet in length and round along the entire length rmtil the last six inches which were flattened resulting in an "eel­ tailed" end. (See Fig. 15). Fig. 15 Simple spearthrower with ho9ked end. 7 Fig. 16 Fig. 17 Fig. 18 Fig. 19 Fig. 16 Boomerang - Rockhampton area. Fig. 17 Boomerang with two bends - Mackay area. Fig. 19 Bootrerang with slight cwve. Fig. 19 Boomerang with acute angle - Norman ton and Gulf Coast. ~g. 20 Spear thrower with et=1 ) ) ~-L_) _L.) __=::::> tassel of human hair - Burketown. Fig. 21 Lathe shaped spear thrower - Burketown. BOOMERANGS Boomerangs were either manufactured from a natural bend in a tree or else were cut out of a large block. They are said to be absent in the Cape York Peninsula. They were used for both fighting and hunting purposes. Booi~erangs around the Mackay area were rather more unusual in that they had a 'double bend' and were more of a gradual half-moon shape. (See Pig. 17). 8 Those in the Rockhanpton and surrotmding areas also differed in that it had a bend close to its handle extremity. The differences can be seen in Figs. 16 to 19. Along the surface of the boomerang fine working with a stone had created fluting. Roth comments that at the Keppel Islands he could learn nothing of boomerangs. 9 ln the Brisbane area the boomerang was made from the spur of a tree. The fighting beo~rang had less of a bend and was much heavier and rotmded on both sides. In the north-west around Normanton and the Gulf coast the weapon becomes heavier and more clum5y with a moT€ or less acute angle at the bend. (See Fig. 19). Further to the north this gives way to a very slight curve. The angular boomerang was often used for fighting at close quarters by throwing it on the ground. A curved boomerang was generally used for knocking over wallabies, birds and other sn~ll marsupials. ao u Fig. 22 Fig. 23 Fig. 24 Fig. 25 Fig. 26 Fig. 22 Longitudinal section of shield. Fig. 23 Oval shield showing hand grip - Rockhampton area. Fig. 24 Central blackened panel - Rockhampton. Fig. 25 Outer surface with ~lackened bands and white spaces - Yeppoon. Fig. 26 Outer surface - Marlborough-. Fig. 27 Outer surface - Brisbane. SHIELDS It would seem that throughout the Cape York Peninsula shields were not manufactured and the place of the weapon was taken by the broad-bladed spearthrower.